Wonderful Works

“Truly you have formed my inmost being; ​you knit me in my mother’s womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; ​wonderful are your works.” Psalm 139:13-14

Here are the words of Pope Francis, in his General Audience St. Peter’s Square in April 2017:

“Of course, if we trusted only in our strengths, we would have reason to feel disappointed and defeated, because the world often shows itself immune to the laws of love. It prefers, so often, the laws of selfishness. But if the certainty survives in us that God does not abandon us, that God loves us and this world tenderly, then it immediately changes our perspective. “Homo viator, spe erectus,” the ancients used to say [Latin: “Man is a wayfarer, (supported) upright by hope”]. Along the journey, Jesus’ promise “I am with you” enables us to stand with hope, upright, trusting that the good God is already at work, accomplishing what humanly seems impossible, because the anchor is on heaven’s shore. The holy, faithful People of God are a people that stand – homo viator – and walk, but upright, erectus, and they walk in hope. And wherever they go, they know that God’s love has preceded them: there is no part of the world that escapes the victory of the Risen Christ. And what is the victory of the Risen Christ? The victory of love.”

Yes, we were created in love, surrounded by love ever since we were a mere idea in God’s mind. God will never abandon us, even if it may seem so sometimes. The world is so full of uncertainty, sadness and pain. Many people take that as a sign that God has forsaken us. But that is far from the truth. Once I was praying about so many things, my brother’s health and well being, my own condition, our business, our country, our leaders. So many challenges confront us that it may seem overwhelming and hopeless at times. But I felt God say to me that the bigger the mess, the more material He has to work with. There is always victory if we work with God. Perhaps all we see is the difficulty, the suffering, the incompetence, the injustice, the evil of the system. But what does God see? 

If we see the beginnings of a baby in the womb, it does not look anything like a baby. But each day, each week, each month, the primitive form inside the womb is developing into an individual like no one else. God is working with blood cells, and neural tissue, and bits of bone, that at first looks like a baby dinosaur, but God sees the finished result. Yes, He will finish what He started, in our lives, and the lives of our loved ones. We just need to trust in Him who created us with love.